Because of a new product line, your company's sales over the last few months have increased significantly. As a result, the amount of cash held by the company has increased to levels never experienced before. An evaluation by the company's financial staff concludes that the company is holding too much cash. This situation is reported to the stockholders. How do you think the stockholders would react to this information? What options do you have to deal with the concerns of the stockholders without creating any additional risk?

Justintime (JIT) inventory systems were first developed by the Japanese and quickly adopted around the globe by many large firms. One of the first to adopt the system in the United States was the automobile industry.

In your opinion, is the JIT system a system that can and should be adopted by small, individually owned firms? Why or why not?

Would the smaller firms have any advantage in terms of their ability to use such a system? Why or why not?

What would be the benefits of employing such a system in the economy?